The Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area was born out of the Peace Park Foundation’s vision to establish a network of transfrontier conservation areas in southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. It straddles the border between

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

’s

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

province, southern

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, and

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

Overview

The Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area covers , of which (66%) is in Mozambique, (26%) is in South Africa, and (8%) is in Eswatini. It is situated on a low-lying coastal plain between the

Lebombo Mountains The Lebombo Mountains, also called Lubombo Mountains, Rivombo Mountains (), are an , narrow range of mountains in Southern Africa. They stretch from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa ...

in the west and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

in the east. The area offers a unique combination of big-game country, extensive

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, and beautiful undeveloped coastal areas. It links the Maputo Elephant Reserve in Mozambique through the Futi Corridor and the Lubombo Conservancy in Eswatini to the

Tembe Elephant Park Tembe Elephant Park is a 30 012 ha game reserve in Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is adjacent to Ndumo Game Reserve. The park was developed by Tembe Tribal Authority and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. It was established in 1983 to protect ...

in South Africa, creating the first major elephant stronghold along Africa's eastern coastline.

Maputo Elephant Reserve

Now known as Maputo Special Reserve (or Reserva Especial de Maputo in Portuguese), this reserve is situated in the southernmost part of Mozambique, 79 km south of

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, in the province of

. It is bounded on the east by the

, and on the west by the Rio Maputo. In 1975 before the

Mozambique civil war The Mozambican Civil War () was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992 due to a combination of local strife and the polarizing effects of Cold War politics. The fighting was between Mozambique's ruling Marxist Mozambique Liberation ...

, vast numbers of wildlife including 65

White Rhinoceros The white rhinoceros, also known as the white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum''), is the largest extant species of rhinoceros and the most Sociality, social of all rhino species, characterized by its wide mouth adapted f ...

were relocated from Umfolozi Game Reserve in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. Sadly no

rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

and only some 200

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

survived the 14-year war. The elephant reserve is now threatened by industrial development On 18 July 2012 Macauhub News Agency reported that a public tender will be issued for selection of the company that will carry out the studies of the economic feasibility of building a deep water port an Techobanine. The Mozambique Transport and Communications Minister, Paulo Zucula, said the master plan for the project had recently been completed, and that the proposal was due to be presented soon to the Council of Ministers. The port complex is expected to cover an area of 30,000 hectares, and will have an additional area of 11,000 hectares for industrial development, as well as capacity to process 200 million tons of cargo. The Techobanine region is 70km from Maputo and 20km north of Ponta do Ouro.

Tembe Elephant Park

is situated in Maputaland, in the north-eastern region of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa adjoining the Mozambique border. It is home to the province's biggest African elephant herd and its only indigenous elephants. Tembe's comprises a variety of unique sand forest, woodland,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

and swampland habitats.

The Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park

The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in the Ponta do Ouro-Kosi Bay Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) was proclaimed a UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in November 1999. The site is the largest

estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

system in Africa and includes the southernmost extension of

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. ...

on the continent. Efforts are ongoing to extend the existing World Heritage Site northwards to encompass the Mozambican section of the TFCA, which includes a

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

Lubombo Conservancy

Situated in the north eastern part of Eswatini in the

Lubombo Region Lubombo is a region of Eswatini, located in the east of the country. It has an area of 5,849.11 km2 and a population of 212,531 (2017). Its administrative center is Siteki. It borders all three other regions: Hhohho to the north, Manzini t ...

. This protected area includes the

Hlane Royal National Park Hlane Royal National Park is a national park in Eswatini, roughly 67 km northeast of Manzini along the MR3 road.South Africa, page 815 Prior to being designated a public park, it was a private royal hunting ground. Hlane, meaning 'wilderne ...

, the Mlawula Nature Reserve, the Shewula Community Nature Reserve, the Mbuluzi Game Reserve the Nkhalashane Siza Ranch and the Inyoni Yami Swaziland Irrigation Scheme, (also known as the IYSIS).

References

External links

Peace Parks Foundation’s website

Conservation website

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government homepage

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (previous known as Natal Parks Board

SANParks

Swaziland National Trust Commission

{{Coord, 26.25, S, 31.88, E, type:adm1st, display=title Peace parks Nature conservation in Mozambique Protected areas of South Africa Protected areas of Eswatini Transboundary protected areas